Driving ban for hoon who ruined fence

Ross Irby
Reporter
Reporter Ross Irby has wander-lust mixed with a sense of adventure, spending way too many years roaming about Australia, its back roads and off-shore foreign lands.
Enjoys a yarn, story telling and tales, along with curiosity to find out about the lives and (mis)adventures of others.
An off-beat sense of humour, not taking it all too seriously, along with big doses of flexibility/adaptability whatever the situation is the best way to go.
You have to have the life experiences to have empathy...

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A MIDDLE-AGED driver with a "nasty" and "disgraceful" history of driving offences was criticised by a Mackay magistrate for his hoon driving after the intoxicated man crashed through the timber fence of a North Mackay house.

More than two times the legal alcohol limit, Jay Thomas Hayward (right) lost control of his Holden before crashing through the fence in McMahon St.

Hayward fled the scene, but not before the home owner and a neighbour wrote down the registration number of his damaged vehicle as it disappeared down the street.

A more repentant Hayward revealed in Mackay Magistrates Court that after police tracked him down, he later paid for a new timber fence and painted it white for the owner.

Hayward pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention on August 2, mid-range drink-driving, and failing to give his particulars at the scene of a crash.

Prosecutor Sergeant Sabine Scott said police saw tyre friction marks on the road, showing the car had fish-tailed along the street.

Sgt Scott said Hayward told officers at his house that "he gave it to it", accelerating heavily, causing it to fish-tail and him to lose control.

Solicitor Andrew Wiseman made an application for his client to receive a work driving licence so Hayward would not lose his job, saying he was "deeply remorseful" and was now a responsible adult with responsibilities.

Instead, Magistrate Damien Dwyer refused and was scathing in his criticism of Hayward's driving, calling it "hooning".

"He's got a nasty history. This is a hooning offence," Mr Dwyer said.

"You have a disgraceful history. You were hooning at the time of the accident," he said.

Mr Dwyer refused the application, fined Hayward $1750 and disqualified him from driving for seven months.